Great review, and normally I would come galumphing into these reviews with myriad lengthy insights. But I'm avoiding that today to make a public service announcement. If you, readers, are not aware, there is an official Spotify Yellowjackets playlist, updated after each episode. It's great, obviously. The longer the show goes on, though, the more likely we'll have some emotional cannibalism montage set to "Breakfast at Tiffany's" by Deep Blue Something.
“What did the bun say to the hot dog?” joke. Shauna has some good ideas: “Maybe something about how the bun is tired of having its identity tied to the hot dog? ‘Other stuff can go in me too, you know?’”
Idk why but during this scene I was reading between the lines of this joke from the POV of their daughter and all the answers Shauna offered were very upsetting considering what she understands is going on between them and Shauna’s infidelity. “What did the bun say to the hotdog?” could be replaced with “Why did you cheat on me?” And him saying “I have nothing?” Kind of sounds like him saying I thought I understood why but I think I actually don’t. It was weird. But I thought it was interesting.
Also in reference to the opening flash forward to 1998, it felt to me like a similar tease that we got with episode one with the girl in the pit. Like we’re not going to come back to that, more like a narrative tease. I would equate it to the B&W flash forwards in Better Call Saul, like we may be building up to this story development but whether you get the full story depends on if we are allowed to get to it.
The present day stuff really bothers me whenever they cut to it, it just isn't at the same level of intensity as the past. If this show was all the past I'd still watch it and it'd be one of my fav shows of all time but if this show was all the present I wouldn't even be watching it.
You mentioned LOST here and it had off island flashbacks too but the good thing about LOST was that the flashbacks were secondary color and only got a small amount of screentime relative to the island stuff (unlike here where the present gets roughly the same or slightly more focus than the past). Those flashbacks were also selfcontained character stories so if you didn't like a Jack flashbacks this week, no worries, there'd be a Charlie flashback with no connection to it next week. Here if you are not into some of the present day stuff, you're stuck with it for the whole season. I am already dreading the murder coverup storyline that's gonna take a chunk of the season.
The past is like an A+ show, up there with one of the best ever, the present is a meh B show that resembles some of the primetime soapy dramas that ABC used to air. Until the show exorcises some of the really soapy elements from the present storyline like Shauna's affair/murder and Tai's senatorial run while balancing her family life and her mental health, I feel it is going to be just short of its true potential.
Agree that the late 90s forest timeline is definitely the best part of the show (and whoever’s in charge of the soundtrack is spot on, speaking as someone who was also in high school in 1997… every episode feels like waking up to the clock radio that I set to the local “alternative” station)
But I have to disagree on the present day storylines being soapy/unnecessary. The long-term ramifications of a severely traumatic experience is a central theme of this show. The surviving Yellowjackets went through something that continues to f*ck up their lives 25 years after the plane crash.
Great premiere and review, but can we talk about the On ThIs Season trailer?
I can not wait for the Ice Storm reunion of Elijah Wood and Christina Ricci!! Also, his reunion with Melanie Lynsky (I Don't Feel At Home In This World).
"I don’t have a strong emotional attachment to Lottie, compared to the main four women and Van, and the show’s unwillingness to clarify exactly how correct her convictions are could prevent it from really engaging with her relationship to her mental illness."
I think this is the most dangerous line the show is currently walking. Mental illness as a source of (or perhaps the actual form of) supernatural powers in media is nothing new. There's a certain Western lens on this that seems to frame the problem as a black and white 'civilized medicine' vs 'nature' dichotomy, but it could be an interesting, nuanced, and productive discussion in the right hands.
I actually don't think I need the show to be clear on Lottie's correctness to feel good about all of this. What I'm finding possibly concerning is the way Lottie in the woods seems to be doing just fine 'off her meds' - and how the show seems to be saying that society silences her (first through meds, later through ECT - which evokes some of the most horrific images of 20th century psychiatric care). Not to say that this isn't a relevant or good critique, but it's not super nuanced at the moment and so I have some lingering concerns. I think I need to see more of the show and it's ideas around mental health, medicine, and delusions to understand and feel comfortable.
I am embarrassed to ask this, but it's time: how exactly did we know there was cannibalism involved in Season One. I've watched that opening "Pit Girl" scene over and over, and I don't see any suggestion that she will be eaten. I feel like I'm a step behind everyone.
Not embarrassing! The opening technically only shows the trap, but other skips later forward in that same episode show the girls cooking meat, which is heavily implied to be the Pit Girl.
Thanks! You point to my problem. We all know there is cannibalism, the creators have confirmed this ... for people who don't actually watch it, I suspect they just think of it as That Cannibal Show. But just on the face value of that first episode, I'm not convinced. Girl falls into pit, later other girls cook meat. That's not much evidence. Yet, thanks to extra-textual conversations, fans know something like that has happened. Well, now that someone ate an ear, it's official :-).
The way my boyfriend got it when he saw the episode title as I paused it and made a comment about it but I missed it, and then I got it when I saw this comment, and relayed it to him, who got upset I wasn’t paying attention the first time.
The way I didn't get it when seeing the episode title, then during the Jackie-Shauna scene made THE joke about it (while somehow still not putting two and two together about the title), and then I read this thread and still didn't get it, and then gave up and Googled the title, and started kicking myself.
It goes beyond even just the obvious ear reference:
"I come not to praise Caesar, but to bury him
The evil that men do lives after them
The good is oft interred with their bones"
Jackie is Caesar, Shauna leading her team to cast her outside, to her death, is Brutus leading the stabbing in the Senate. The actions the girls undertake in the wilderness lives with them to the present day; any good things that come of their time as a team, especially their time in the wilderness, is long buried.
Great review, and normally I would come galumphing into these reviews with myriad lengthy insights. But I'm avoiding that today to make a public service announcement. If you, readers, are not aware, there is an official Spotify Yellowjackets playlist, updated after each episode. It's great, obviously. The longer the show goes on, though, the more likely we'll have some emotional cannibalism montage set to "Breakfast at Tiffany's" by Deep Blue Something.
In reference to:
“What did the bun say to the hot dog?” joke. Shauna has some good ideas: “Maybe something about how the bun is tired of having its identity tied to the hot dog? ‘Other stuff can go in me too, you know?’”
Idk why but during this scene I was reading between the lines of this joke from the POV of their daughter and all the answers Shauna offered were very upsetting considering what she understands is going on between them and Shauna’s infidelity. “What did the bun say to the hotdog?” could be replaced with “Why did you cheat on me?” And him saying “I have nothing?” Kind of sounds like him saying I thought I understood why but I think I actually don’t. It was weird. But I thought it was interesting.
Also in reference to the opening flash forward to 1998, it felt to me like a similar tease that we got with episode one with the girl in the pit. Like we’re not going to come back to that, more like a narrative tease. I would equate it to the B&W flash forwards in Better Call Saul, like we may be building up to this story development but whether you get the full story depends on if we are allowed to get to it.
I think I agree on the flashforward! And we could end up seeing the rescue/some of those in-between years actually play out in season 4 or 5 anyway.
The present day stuff really bothers me whenever they cut to it, it just isn't at the same level of intensity as the past. If this show was all the past I'd still watch it and it'd be one of my fav shows of all time but if this show was all the present I wouldn't even be watching it.
You mentioned LOST here and it had off island flashbacks too but the good thing about LOST was that the flashbacks were secondary color and only got a small amount of screentime relative to the island stuff (unlike here where the present gets roughly the same or slightly more focus than the past). Those flashbacks were also selfcontained character stories so if you didn't like a Jack flashbacks this week, no worries, there'd be a Charlie flashback with no connection to it next week. Here if you are not into some of the present day stuff, you're stuck with it for the whole season. I am already dreading the murder coverup storyline that's gonna take a chunk of the season.
The past is like an A+ show, up there with one of the best ever, the present is a meh B show that resembles some of the primetime soapy dramas that ABC used to air. Until the show exorcises some of the really soapy elements from the present storyline like Shauna's affair/murder and Tai's senatorial run while balancing her family life and her mental health, I feel it is going to be just short of its true potential.
Agree that the late 90s forest timeline is definitely the best part of the show (and whoever’s in charge of the soundtrack is spot on, speaking as someone who was also in high school in 1997… every episode feels like waking up to the clock radio that I set to the local “alternative” station)
But I have to disagree on the present day storylines being soapy/unnecessary. The long-term ramifications of a severely traumatic experience is a central theme of this show. The surviving Yellowjackets went through something that continues to f*ck up their lives 25 years after the plane crash.
Great premiere and review, but can we talk about the On ThIs Season trailer?
I can not wait for the Ice Storm reunion of Elijah Wood and Christina Ricci!! Also, his reunion with Melanie Lynsky (I Don't Feel At Home In This World).
Lauren Ambrose as adult Van is genius casting.
No we cannot because I literally hid under a blanket when it came on out of protest of “This Season On” previews.
Oopsie!!
My friends and I were debating who should play present-day Van and I pitched Ambrose. Should've put money on it, dammit.
It truly is the perfect choice.
"I don’t have a strong emotional attachment to Lottie, compared to the main four women and Van, and the show’s unwillingness to clarify exactly how correct her convictions are could prevent it from really engaging with her relationship to her mental illness."
I think this is the most dangerous line the show is currently walking. Mental illness as a source of (or perhaps the actual form of) supernatural powers in media is nothing new. There's a certain Western lens on this that seems to frame the problem as a black and white 'civilized medicine' vs 'nature' dichotomy, but it could be an interesting, nuanced, and productive discussion in the right hands.
I actually don't think I need the show to be clear on Lottie's correctness to feel good about all of this. What I'm finding possibly concerning is the way Lottie in the woods seems to be doing just fine 'off her meds' - and how the show seems to be saying that society silences her (first through meds, later through ECT - which evokes some of the most horrific images of 20th century psychiatric care). Not to say that this isn't a relevant or good critique, but it's not super nuanced at the moment and so I have some lingering concerns. I think I need to see more of the show and it's ideas around mental health, medicine, and delusions to understand and feel comfortable.
I am embarrassed to ask this, but it's time: how exactly did we know there was cannibalism involved in Season One. I've watched that opening "Pit Girl" scene over and over, and I don't see any suggestion that she will be eaten. I feel like I'm a step behind everyone.
Not embarrassing! The opening technically only shows the trap, but other skips later forward in that same episode show the girls cooking meat, which is heavily implied to be the Pit Girl.
More importantly, the creators themselves have confirmed the implication, in interviews like this one: https://www.etonline.com/yellowjackets-creators-talk-season-1-finale-and-whats-in-store-for-season-2-exclusive-177732
Thanks! You point to my problem. We all know there is cannibalism, the creators have confirmed this ... for people who don't actually watch it, I suspect they just think of it as That Cannibal Show. But just on the face value of that first episode, I'm not convinced. Girl falls into pit, later other girls cook meat. That's not much evidence. Yet, thanks to extra-textual conversations, fans know something like that has happened. Well, now that someone ate an ear, it's official :-).
…The way I didn’t get it till reading your comment.
The way my boyfriend got it when he saw the episode title as I paused it and made a comment about it but I missed it, and then I got it when I saw this comment, and relayed it to him, who got upset I wasn’t paying attention the first time.
The way I didn't get it when seeing the episode title, then during the Jackie-Shauna scene made THE joke about it (while somehow still not putting two and two together about the title), and then I read this thread and still didn't get it, and then gave up and Googled the title, and started kicking myself.
And...now I get it too!
It goes beyond even just the obvious ear reference:
"I come not to praise Caesar, but to bury him
The evil that men do lives after them
The good is oft interred with their bones"
Jackie is Caesar, Shauna leading her team to cast her outside, to her death, is Brutus leading the stabbing in the Senate. The actions the girls undertake in the wilderness lives with them to the present day; any good things that come of their time as a team, especially their time in the wilderness, is long buried.
Oh my God I JUST got it.